Topher Brink
Portrayed by Fran Kranz, Topher Brink is a character of Dollhouse. According to casting documents, "he is the genius programmer of the Dollhouse who's articulate, nerdily attractive, and blithely amoral. He's responsible for imprinting and wiping the dolls — and making sure they stay unaware of anything. Is fascinated by the science and kind of digging the illegality. Fun to be around, but might not be remotely trustworthy." His assistant is Ivy, a young Asian woman. Characterization Joss Whedon describes the role: "Topher, the programmer, who is going to be cute and funny and sexy, he programs them, and he has a very amoral kind of point of view" In this regard Brink is the counterpoint to Dr. Claire Saunders. Topher did not invent imprinting technology, but he did significantly improve it, reducing the time for an imprint from at least two hours to five minutes. Topher takes a great deal of pride in his work programming Actives, and usually blames others when things go wrong or the unexpected happens. He considers himself Adelle's "number one son", and uses his status to dress and act unprofessionally, and to annoy Dominic, but is deeply intimidated by Adelle. He also uses his talent to justify treating his assistant Ivy as a gofer, but later grudgingly gives her more responsibility, including running the imprint chair. In "Haunted", Topher requested an Active for tests, but he actually imprints Sierra with a personality similar to his own. They spend a day or two discussing nerdy topics and playing laser tag. Adelle tells Boyd that Topher does this once a year on his birthday. Topher avoids discussing the morality or ethics of his work at the Dollhouse. Despite this, Topher persuaded Adelle to let him use Echo to help a traumatized young girl. "Omega" reveals that Topher created the "Dr. Claire Saunders" imprint for Whiskey, to replace the previous doctor who had been killed by alpa. However, he gave her advanced computer skills, enough to uncover her status as an Active. In "Vows", Topher says that he created the Dr. Saunders imprint to be "everything I'm not," and that her hatred of him evolved naturally. This also showed that he sleeps on a cot in one of the Dollhouse's computer rooms. After Dr. Saunders' escape, Topher's attitude changes. In "Belle Chose", he tells Adelle he has ethical reservations with reviving a comatose serial killer. In "Belonging", he realizes he was deceived about Priya Tsetsang's mental condition when he helped recruit her for the Dollhouse. Instead of imprinting Sierra permanently to be Nolan Kinnard's lover, he secretly gives Sierra her original personality back, thinking she would flee. When Priya kills Nolan in self-defense, he tries to help her. He and Boyd cover up the murder and dispose of Kinnard's body. He brings Priya back to the Dollhouse to return to being Sierra and living with Victor. At Priya's request, he promises never to imprint her with any memories of killing Kinnard. In "Epitaph One," a flashback reveals Topher suffering from a mental breakdown, probably due to his guilt for creating the mass imprinting technology. ARG Backstory Topher got a backstory in the interactive Dollhouse-ARG Dollplay: ID-no: N/A Last Name: Brink First Name: Christopher Middle Name: N/A Race/Sex: C/M Date of Birth: 27/01/81 Height: 5’11 Weight: 134 Hair color: Middle blonde Eye color: Blue SSN: 569-85-3247 Birth State: CA Generation: JR City: Los Angeles Zip: 90091 Age: 28 Scars Marks: Tattoo: NCC1701, left ankle. Skin Tone: Beige Military Service: N/A His complete psychological profile can be found here. Trivia * Topher has Nyctophobia, a fear of the dark. Exactly how badly he suffers from it is unknown, but blackouts put him on edge. He's also afraid of rats. * Notes in the Dollplay ARG indicate that he has been scanned numerous times. An imprint wedge for him exists dating to the end of his work with Dr. Alexandra Rose, but before being recruited to work in the Dollhouse. * The nickname Topher can be glossed as "bearer", from the name Christopher meaning "Bearer of Christ". Thus his full name can be read, appropriately, to mean "one who carries to the brink." Notes & References Brink, Topher Brink, Topher